Hi all so i've decided to set a basic home theatre 5.1 system in the family room that could grow to 7.1 by having different zones in the house. I'm really completely new to home theater. So far I picked up a 55" smart tv and have hung it on the wall of this 12x22 room with 20 foot ceilings. I plan that all wires will be in the wall and the receiver will be about 30 feet away in the next room in a cabinet. Unfortnately the waf factor is big here. I am looking at two different receivers at the moment trying to make my mind up. Either the Onkyo Tx-NR616 due to its low price but the horrible reviews have me wondering if all the firmware updates have corrected the issues. The other is the Yamaha Aventage Rx820 again because it is on sale. Any thoughts on those two receivers is appreciated. I realize they are 7.2 receivers but i'd want to use the extra two channels for some deck or kitchen speakers.

I have some really basic question that I'm almost embarassed to ask. First, I only have the most basic cable package there is. The kind that only has local channels in order to have cable internet. If I have one of those two receivers, and I only have coax coming from the wall since there is no cable box with this cheap of cable package, where do I plug the coax in? Does the coax get plugged into the receiver then I run an hdmi to the tv so it can upconvert the mostly non-hd channels? Do these receivers have a spot to plug in coax cable?

Second do I need a separate HDMI cable for each source from the tv to the receiver? So for example if I have a blue ray player do I run the blu ray player to the receiver via hdmi and a dedicaded hdmi for the blue ray player from the receiver to the tv? Therefor I'd need a second HDMI cable from the receiver to the tv if indeed i plug the cable coax into the receiver? I'm going to need 40 food hdmi cables and they are expensive. Any input is appreciated.

You will need a tuner that connects to your cable/antenna, and then the tuner will connect to the AVR via HDMI (or component, etc).

The AVRs you listed can convert both analog and digital inputs into a single HDMI output, so you will only need a single HDMI going from the AVR to your TV. You will use the AVR to swtich between the different sources.

I would suggest you first focus on getting everything done in your room (such as running cables, etc). AVRs only get cheaper with time, and by the time you are done w/ your room, there may be something better and/or cheaper.

If your Bluray player has a tuner you should be able to go directly into your DVD player. Then one HDMI from the DVD to the receiver and one to the TV.

It's not the other two channels youu will use to drive the deck speakers. It will be a seperate zone on your receiver. Check through the receiver forum, you should be able to find reviews on the two models you are looking at.

If your Bluray player has a tuner you should be able to go directly into your DVD player. Then one HDMI from the DVD to the receiver and one to the TV.

It's not the other two channels youu will use to drive the deck speakers. It will be a seperate zone on your receiver. Check through the receiver forum, you should be able to find reviews on the two models you are looking at.

So I don't actually have a blu ray yet and probably won't get one right away. We mostly just watch streaming netflix. So given no Blu Ray player and a raw co-ax cable, what is a tuner that I'd have to get the hdmi out from?
Also, it seems that on those 7.2 receivers, if you choose to use zone 2...then you can only use zone 1 in 5.1 mode if I understand correctly.